An application to assess the commercial viability of oil at an 'unauthorised' well in Brockham has come under scrutiny from Mole Valley District Council's planning committee.

Angus Energy has applied for permission to carry out an appraisal of oil from a 'sidetrack' it drilled in a well in Old School Lane in January 2017, which Surrey County Council has claimed it did not have permission to drill at the time.

The application is to keep the original well, drilled in 2007, and maintain the sidetrack to it, drilled last year.

A third part of the application is for permission to carry out an appraisal of whether the well will produce a commercially viable quantity of oil.

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However councillors at the planning committee meeting on May 2 questioned the firm's intentions, saying the application appeared to contradict a press release it issued earlier this year.

Clayton Wellman, district councillor for the Holmwoods, said: "We are told this is for appraisal - granted. However, on Angus' website on January 15 it states on their press release that production from Brockham BR-X4Z well [the well the application concerns] is expected to give the company a total of four wells in production for the quarter one in 2018."

Cllr Wellman said this does not fit with the application, which is asking for a three-year period to assess the viability of the well, when the press release seemed to suggest its viability was already known.

He added that the company's chairman recently stated commercial production will be from the Brockham Kimmeridge - a layer of clay in the ground - in 2018.

Brockham Protection Camp protesters (Image: Grant Melton)

Cllr Wellman added: "If you look on the submission that Angus made to the Environment Agency of the well depths, the only well that is capable of producing from the Kimmeridge will be this new sidetrack.

"There is a contradiction there in what they are saying to one group of people and what they are saying to the planning authority.

"This is strangely reminiscent of their behaviour before [when the company allegedly drilled the sidetrack without permission] and obviously with their extended timeframe for appraisal this is an issue for concern."

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Cllr Simon Hunt, chair of the meeting, concluded by saying: "This wasn't meant to be happening, it's now an application and there were press releases saying that it's in production, so what is it all about?

"If Surrey [County Council] could get to the bottom of that we would all be enlightened."